It is well known that walking provides many physical benefits, including increasing cardiovascular and muscular fitness. These responses are increased by introducing a pronounced swinging motion of the arms and can be increased even further by using hand weights. It is difficult for a pet owner to receive the added cardiovascular or muscular benefits that are derived from holding a hand weight while walking their pet as it is difficult to hold a hand weight in addition to holding a leash.
In addition, pet owners are required to pick up and carry their pet's waste, usually in a bag. When carrying a bag of waste a person typically does not walk with the same arm stride as they did before picking up the feces. It has been found that a person carrying bag of waste reduces their arm swing in order to reduce the swinging of the bag. The reduction in arm swing results in a decrease in the cardiovascular response that would normally occur in the individual if their arm swing were not reduced.
A leash with an integrated weight is known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,239 B1 discloses a weighted pet leash assembly that includes a hand weight having opposite weighted sections connected to each other by a handle, i.e. a “dumbbell” shape hand weight. Disadvantageously, the opposite weighted sections can produce strain on the dog's walker's wrist and elbow when the opposite weighed sections are rotated about an axis perpendicular to the handle of the hand weight.
Pouches for carrying pet waste are known. For example, U.S. 2006/0054107 A1 discloses a waste carrying pouch that is attachable to a leash. U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,809 discloses a leash pouch for containing waste. U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,286 B2 discloses an implement for carrying waste while using a leash. U.S. D651,767S discloses a bilateral leash pouch for dog waste and personal items. However, these pouches will swing when full of waste. As a result the walker will reduce their arm swing, resulting in a loss of cardiovascular benefit for the walker.
In addition, leashes comprising storage containers are known. U.S. Patent Application No. US 2010/0300375 discloses a dog leash grip handle having a storage means. This grip handle is adapted to hold and dispense a roll of plastic bags. US 2010/0018468 A1 discloses a dog leash handle assembly with removable storage containers. The containers are designed to store food and water for a pet. They are not designed to store pet waste as they are compact in design.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a leash assembly that allows an owner increase their cardiovascular fitness while also providing storage for pet waste or other items.